More information

Data sources:

• Data on protected sites provided by the Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova under the ENI SEIS II East project activities 

• Roekaerts, M. and Opermanis, O., 2018. Status of the Emerald Network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest in 2018, Group of Experts on Protected Areas and Ecological Networks 9^th Meeting, T-PVS/PA (2018) 11, Council of Europe, Strasbourg. (accessed 15 March 2019)

The protection of biodiversity through the development of protected areas has been implemented in Moldova since 1971. In the beginning, only a small portion of the country’s territory was under protection. However, starting from early 1998 Moldova has been establishing the legal framework for developing and expanding the protected area network across the country. Although the total number of protected areas has not changed substantially over time, the area of nationally designated protected sites has been remarkably expanded from  66 468 ha in 1998 to 196 301  ha in 2018, through expanding their boundaries. This corresponds to 5.8 % of the country’s territory today. In 2018, Moldova had 311 protected sites.

Despite all efforts, the designation of protected areas is not a guarantee of biodiversity protection. Therefore, beyond this quantitative analysis, specific information on site management and quality would help to complete the assessment of the effectiveness of the protected areas’ management.